COVID-19

Monica Bertagnolli, MD, fielded questions on hot-button issues during the long-delayed Senate hearing on her nomination to head the National Institutes of Health; Pfizer announces the list price for a 5-day course of its COVID-19 antiviral, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid); a federal initiative is distributing funds to programs aiming to prevent drug overdoses in pregnant women.

Medicare Part A and B premiums are set to increase by $9.80 next year; 20 experts from various specialties and institutions have developed updated brain death guidelines; many Black patients are strongly affected by multiple COVID-19 infections due to a lack of health insurance and health care access.

In this analysis of more than 97 million commercially insured individuals, investigators found that the COVID-19 pandemic induced a spending shock in 2020 and that health care spending did not recover to baseline until mid-2021.

A government shutdown could impact Medicaid and Medicare in important ways; new Medicare Advantage plans personalize offerings to special populations; nursing homes are still waiting for COVID-19 shots since the US government has stepped back.

FDA approves updated COVID-19 booster vaccines; low donor turnout and climate disasters result in a national blood shortage; minority patients discouraged by lack of doctor diversity.

CDC outlines new procedures for sepsis response; mask mandates resurface during COVID-19 increase; a recent study shows that technology can help support public health programs.

Researchers investigated methods for measuring prior exposure in patients with suspected, undocumented COVID-19 infection to give better access to care and counsel.

Patients and physicians are publicly shaming insurance companies on social media for the troublesome prior authorization process; HHS has awarded $1.4 billion in grants for the creation of new technologies and tools to prevent COVID-19 infection; Novo Nordisk has increased lobbying efforts to allow Medicare coverage of weight loss drugs.

In this multicenter cohort study, COVID-19 vaccination at any gestational stage improved antibody responses for pregnant individuals and their infants. Booster vaccine recipients demonstrated increased benefits in these effects at delivery.

Researchers using the Big Five Inventory-2 Short Form questionnaire in a large-scale survey have associated certain personality traits with the openness to accept or refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

Patients with a specific gene are more likely to develop long COVID; senators send letters to the Internal Revenue Service, urging them to investigate the practices of nonpartisan hospitals; pregnant workers and workers with newborns could potentially gain job accommodations through a new proposal.

The body of research on nirmatrelvir-ritonavir demonstrates a plethora of benefits in the treatment of COVID-19, and authors of a recent study identified more advantages to administering the treatment to patients with COVID-19.

More symptoms, older age, and longer hospitalization time increased the risk of post–COVID-19 conditions, aka long COVID, in children.

After the COVID-19 vaccine was released, disparities in COVID-19 incidence shrunk. However, although efforts were made to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine in low-income areas, discrepancies in overall vaccination coverage persisted between higher- and lower-income communities.

Intraparty disagreements over mifepristone cause pause in spending bill agreement until August recess ends; Officials urge the FDA to regulate cannabidiol as a dietary supplement; State medical boards tasked with protecting Americans frequently failed to stop doctors for COVID-19 misinformation.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a particularly negative impact on the uptake of non–COVID-19 vaccines for adults in some countries. Even countries with great progress in adult vaccination prior to the pandemic saw a decline after the pandemic.

Political leanings appear to be associated with mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic; the Biden administration takes steps to ensure parity between mental and physical health benefits; extreme heat and air pollution amplify heart attack risk.

Insurers supervising the health care of Medicaid patients repeatedly reject providers’ approval of care; individuals are more likely to develop dementia if they live in disadvantaged neighborhoods; a type of an immunity gene is found in people who test positive for COVID-19 but don’t develop symptoms.

CMS releases its 2024 Physician Fee Schedule, including a conversion factor cut, and proposes behavioral health efforts; a World Health Organization (WHO) agency says that aspartame may cause cancer, but another one maintains that it remains generally safe; HHS calls for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to ensure reasonable pricing for their upcoming fall shots.

Lifesaving organ supply disruption avoided for now; approximately a quarter of the US population had not been exposed to COVID-19 by the end of 2022; Gavi will offer developing countries a new polio vaccine.

Healthy sleep before being infected with SARS-CoV-2 infection and before and during the COVID-19 pandemic might protect against post–COVID-19 condition, or long COVID.

This article examines how primary hospitals in Chengdu, China, responded to the relaxation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures in December 2022.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is not associated with health literacy. Personal perception of threat was associated with reduced vaccine hesitancy.

The FDA approves Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 drug; hundreds of thousands of people lose Medicaid coverage after pandemic protections expire; irregular menstrual cycles seem to be linked with higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks.

Shruti Agnihotri, MD, associate professor at the University of Alabama Birmingham, discusses how value-based care can help patients who experience neurologic chronic disease states after COVID-19, in addition to patients with conditions like stroke and dementia.